A South Florida family is begging for help after two of their loved ones were kidnapped during a trip to Haiti.

33-year-old Jean Dickens Tousaint and his wife Abigail Tousaint, have been held hostage since last week Saturday, with their captors demanding a high ransom.

“I’m still in a state of shock,” said Christie, the victims’ niece, who declined to give her last name. “It feels like it didn’t happen, but I know it did, especially since I saw them last month for my birthday.” Christie recalls seeing her aunt and uncle a few weeks back. “I do have the worst case scenario playing in my head, but obviously I don’t want that to happen,” she said. “We just want to hear their voice as proof that they are still alive.” Christie said the couple, from Tamarac, went to Haiti to visit family and to attend a festival but were kidnapped on their bus ride from Port-au-Prince. “They stopped the bus at a stop and then asked for Americans to get off the bus and their escorts off the bus, and then they took them,” she said. The couple also has a 1-year-old son. Christie said there was some fear going into the trip, given the long-raging political unrest in Haiti. The kidnappers demanded $6,000 for their release.

The family paid, but then the dollar amount went up significantly, and the fear is that enough will never be enough. “Once we sent that money, they tried to up the price to $200,000 per person and we don’t have that type of money,” Christie said. The family is hoping that the U.S. Embassy along with Law Enforcement Officials in the U.S. can step in to investigate in hopes for the safe return of Jean and Abigail.

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